Conventional roll-up garage doors have a plurality of panels articularly connected with hinges. The door is movable along rails between closed and open positions. The rails mounted on upright frames or door jambs accommodate rollers located on axles joined to the hinges. The rails and rollers retain the door in its closed position adjacent the door jambs. Repeated opening and closing of the door over time moves the track and rollers to positions away from the door jambs creating a space that allows air, dust, water and snow to leak around the door into the enclosed room or garage. Also, warm air in the garage flows out through the space between the door and door jambs to the exterior atmosphere resulting in a loss of heat energy. When the closed door is subjected to air currents due to wind, the door laterally moves relative to the door jambs and rails causing door vibrations and noise. These conditions can be overcome by adjusting the positions of the tracks, the weather stripping or the door jambs. The adjustments are labor intensive, time consuming and expensive.
A seal member for closing the space between a roll-up door and a door frame is disclosed by R. T. Clay and D. J. Whiting, Jr. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,301. The seal member includes a first position mounted on the frame and a second portion biased to flexibly engage the outer surface of a panel of the roll-up door. The first position of the seal member contacts a stop on the panel of the door to prevent the second portion of the seal member from becoming crushed against the first portion of the seal member to protect the second portion from damage and allow substantially free vertical movement of the roll-up door.
Latch mechanisms for sealing a door tight to a door frame are disclosed by R. D. Keller in U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,041. This mechanism has a latch arm pivotally secured to a panel of the door and a latch member secured to the door frame in which the door is mounted. The latch arm and member are arranged and constructed so that when the door is in the closed position, the latch arm engages the latch member. The latch arm is then pivoted to a position that exerts force on the latch member to cause the door to contact the door frame thereby retaining the door tight against the door frame.
The objectives and advantages of the door sealing mechanism are incorporated in the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numbers refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.